Anti-Semitism shift seen in Germany

berlin (jta) | Anti-Semitic incidents dropped dramatically in Germany last year, but violent attacks are up.

According to a report in the Tagesspiegel newspaper, government sources said there were 1,300 reported anti-Semitic crimes in 2003, down 20 percent from the previous year.

But the number of violent attacks against Jews rose from 28 to 35, including 12 incidents in Berlin. In 2001, there were 18 such crimes registered.

Archbishop blamed Jews for Holocaust

london (jta) | The Nazi-era archbishop of Canterbury suggested Jews were responsible for their persecution by the Nazis, newly revealed documents show.

Cosmo Gordon Lang, who was head of the worldwide Anglican Church from 1928 to 1942, made the comment to American diplomat James McDonald shortly before World War II.

McDonald, who went on to become the first U.S. ambassador to Israel, encountered a similar attitude from leading British Conservative lawmaker Nancy Astor.

Europeans mixed on Jews, Israel

berlin (jta) | Anti-Semitic attitudes have declined in most European countries, but so has support for Israel, according to a new survey.

The Anti-Defamation League survey, released in advance of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s conference on anti-Semitism, found that in the past two years, the most dramatic declines in anti-Semitic attitudes came in France and Spain.

Abraham Foxman, U.S. director of the ADL, lauded the drop in France in particular, from 35 percent to 25 percent. He attributed it to the willingness of France’s leaders to stand up against anti-Semitism.